An important long term reliability and survivability objective of portable terminal products is the ability to survive potentially damaging impact such as might be sustained by drops of the terminal to unyielding surfaces such as concrete. As the portable terminal industry has matured and developed, the expectations and requirements of terminal designs have steadily increased to the point that new terminals must be specified to survive repeated drops from distances as high as six feet to concrete.
The trend toward smaller size in portable terminals is causing increasing pressure to remove elements of the design that contribute to size and bulk of the products. Portable terminals are often used and held in the hand of an operator for exceptionally long operating periods leading to fatigue and an increased likelihood that the unit will be dropped. Hand straps have generally been included as part of the portable terminal design to reduce the potential for drop and subsequent damage to the terminal. Unfortunately, these hand straps are often bulky and subject to wear and damage, leading to yet another service liability.
There are two accepted impact survivability philosophies: either (1) prevent the impact or (2) survive it. Obviously, it is impossible to completely eliminate all occurances of impact, and further, if the terminal must be specified to survive severe drops of, for example, six feet, then there is little reason to invest complexity in drop prevention. Ultimately, the best solution is to tolerate and survive the impacts that the terminal may sustain.
It is an object of the present invention to significantly improve the impact survivability of portable electronic equipment such as hand held data terminals. It is a further object of the invention to simplify and improve the efficiency and quality of the processes required to manufacture the equipment.